The cosmetic preparations, the personal care products and the perfumes represent a class of products for affording cleaning protection, treatment, coloring, fragrance, deodorization, among other benefits of the skin, mucous membranes and hair.
Cosmetics are products for an external use, intended for protecting or embellishing the different parts of the body, such as creams and beauty lotions, hand creams and alike, facial masks, milky or creamy solutions, astringents, hand lotions, makeup, cosmetic oils, sunscreen preparations, suntanning preparations and the like, capillary dyes, hair coloring agents, preparations for waving and fixing hair, hair sprays, brilliantine and the like, capillary lotions, depilatories, nail preparations and the like.
Personal care products are understood to be products for external use, antiseptic or not, intended for body cleaning or disinfection, comprising soaps, shampoos, hair conditioning preparations, dentifrice, mouth rinsers, antiperspirants, deodorants, shaving and aftershaving products, etc.
As perfumes, they are understood to be products of an aromatic composition, obtained from natural or synthetic substances, which, in concentrations and appropriate vehicles, have the final purpose of affording fragrance to people, objects or environment, including the extracts, toilet water, the creamy perfumes, the bath preparations and environmental fragrances, manufactured in liquid, gelled, viscous or solid form.
These kinds of compositions usually use the ethylic alcohol in view of its refreshing benefits, drying time, volatilization, preservation, solubility, etc.
However, the commonly used ethyl alcohol, in spite of its beneficial features for this sort of formulation, shows a characteristic and pronounced odor, and may affect the olfactory perception of the products, and, for several times, releasing an odor characterized as piquant or pungent. As far as the perfumes, deodorants, after-shaving lotions and other sorts of formulation are concerned, where the concentration of ethanol is considerable, possibly reaching up to 90%, the ethanol conventionally used may interfere with the performance of the fragrances. This may imply an olfactory perception less pleasant than the odor shown by the fragrance in its pure state, owing to the perception together with the piquant or pungent odor of the ethanol.
As the ethanol is an ingredient not easily replaceable by other solvents in its applications, it is highly used, in spite of its olfactory inconveniences.
In this area, there is the particular interest in using a type of alternative ethanol, enabling the development of formulations presenting the drying benefit of the volatility and suitable refreshment, without showing the inconvenient pungent odor, which is a feature of the conventional ethanol and, further, where the ethanol may contribute to making the olfactory perception more pleasant, through perfectly combining the fragrance and other base components, composing a different product. Additionally, this alternative ethanol, when used in personal care products, cosmetics or perfumes, should not cause allergic reactions or irritations on the skin and mucous membranes, which would make unfeasible its use. The combination of these features represents the built-in art in the development of this sort of application.
Document EP0196340B1 protects a cosmetic composition containing conventional ethanol modified through the contact with a solid residue of alcoholic fermentation of grapes, obtained from the producing process of wine. It discloses, as a major object, the removal of the pungent odor present in ethanol, and may, for this purpose, use the ethylic alcohol derived from the chemical synthesis or fermentation of several substrates. Differently from this invention, it does not make use of the vinic alcohol obtained from the fermentation of grapes, which contributes with a specific odor for the olfactory perception of the compositions.
Patent JP61204116A2 protects the application of wines treated with calcium salts in deo-colognes and perfumes, with a view to masking the irritating odor of ethanol and, further, contributing to the moisturization of the skin, owing to the presence of saccharides, amino acids and peptides. Differently from this invention, it does not use the vinic alcohol obtained from the grape fermentation, rather the wine in its full state, bringing along other molecules, which might injure the color and cleanliness of the final composition.